Defeat came as a shock for Brendan Rodgers's side after their encouraging away draws at Arsenal and Manchester City, as goals from Gareth McAuley and Romelu Lukaku arrested West Brom's own lean Premier League run.

"The manager didn't have much to say after. We all know we didn't play particularly well," Henderson said in the Liverpool Echo. "I don't think we passed the ball as well as we could have done. We had a lot of the ball but we didn't create as much as we have been doing.

"It's a game we could have won [Steven Gerrard missed a penalty in the second half with the score still 0-0] but it just wasn't our night. You have to take these things on board and learn from it."

Rodgers did not attend the post-match press conference, opting only to fulfil his obligations to broadcasters covering the game. "It was one of those games we couldn't get the breakthrough," he said.

"The longer it goes on it gives the opposition more encouragement. It's a big disappointment because we had two home games this week [the other is against his former club Swansea City on Sunday] that we felt were opportunities for us.

"But we'll go again and get back in tomorrow. We've got a game away in the Europa League [against Zenit St Petersburg] which we'll be ready for on Thursday and then come back, get ready and go again at the weekend."

West Brom's manager, Steve Clarke, said his side remained focused on Premier League safety first after a win that lifted them up to eighth place, but was particularly delighted at the result given his former club's recent form.

"Liverpool are playing as well as anyone in the league so to come here and get that result with the performance as well I don't think you can say we were lucky because we weren't," he said.